familypediawikiaorg-20200214-history
Robert Seeley (1602-1668)
}} Biography Captain Robert Seeley, (also Seely, Seelye, or Ciely), was an early Puritan settler in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who helped establish Watertown MA, Wethersfield CT, and New Haven CT. He also served as second-in-command to John Mason in the Pequot War. * Robert Seeley's name is featured on three historic plaques listing town founders, in Watertown, Wethersfield, and New Haven. * He is listed on a historic plaque at the base of a statue honoring John Mason as one who helped achieve victory for the colonists over the Pequot. Early Life Robert Seeley was born in Bluntisham-cum-Earith, Huntingdonshire, England in 1602. His father William was a joiner (cabinet maker) . 1630 Winthrop Fleet He was a passenger on the in the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, part of The Great Migration. It was the largest fleet ever assembled to carry Englishmen overseas to a new homeland. It was a well planned and financed expedition comprising eleven ships that carried 700 immigrants from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The group, led by Governor John Winthrop, sailed from April to July of 1630. The fleet landed at Salem. Of the 700 on board, 200 died during the voyage, and 100 returned to England soon after arrival. Some of the 400 remaining settlers stayed in Salem, but many moved on to Boston, Watertown, or other settlements. Watertown Founders Monument He is listed on Watertown Founders Monument, commemorating the first settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts. The town was first known as Saltonstall Plantation, one of the earliest of the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlements. Founded in early 1630 by a group of settlers led by Richard Saltonstall and George Phillips, it was officially incorporated that same year. The alternate spelling "Waterton" is seen in some early documents. In 1630 Robert, Mary and Nathaniel sailed with John Winthrop as a part of the original Puritan expedition to Massachusetts. Soon after arriving in the New World, Seeley became one of the original forty settlers of Watertown, one of Massachusetts' earliest Puritan communities. He employed his training in surveying by laying out many of the plots for the settlers. He was granted freeman status in 1631. Weathersfield and Pequot War In 1633 or 1634, Seeley joined a ten-man expedition led by John Oldham (1592-1636) to the Connecticut River. The group soon established Wethersfield, the first English settlement on the Connecticut River. Oldham's death in 1636, presumed by the colonists to be at the hands of the Pequot, helped touch off the Pequot War in 1637. Seeley served as second-in-command to Captain John Mason in the war. He was severely wounded by an arrow to the head in an attack on a Pequot fort along the Mystic River. Captain Mason, who called Seeley a "valiant soldier", wrote of the incident, "Lieutenant Seeley was shot in the eyebrow with a flat headed Arrow, the Point turning downwards. I pulled out the arrow myself." Seeley carried a permanent scar from the wound. New Haven CT When his old friend John Davenport arrived in Massachusetts, Seeley joined his group and helped establish the New Haven Colony in 1638. Seeley served as New Haven's first town marshal and lieutenant of the militia. He was generally known in the community as Lieutenant Seeley. He also participated in Theophilus Eaton's exploratory expedition in Long Island Sound. Long Island NY In 1659 Seeley briefly returned to England, living there until 1662 when he returned to the New World and settled in New Amsterdam (present-day Huntington, New York) on Long Island. He died in New York City in 1668. Marriage and Family In 1623 Robert moved to London, where he became an apprentice cordwainer (shoemaker). He married Mary Mason, widow of Walter Mason, in 1626 and began attending the church of the Puritan minister John Davenport that same year. On 16 September 1627 Robert and Mary's only son, Nathaniel, was baptized at St Stephen's Parish, Coleman Street, London. In 1695 his heirs received 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land in Watertown, resolving a suit which Seeley had filed 60 years earlier after settling in Wethersfield. In the suit he had claimed that he had not been given the area promised to the original settlers of Watertown. Seeley's son Nathaniel was killed in the build-up to the Great Swamp Fight during King Philip's War. Vital Records References * Wikipedia:Robert Seeley * Captain Robert Seeley of Watertown - GENI Category:Migrants from England to Massachusetts Category:Pequot War